Trackin’ and Learnin’ on the Interwebz

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day for me. It included two very exciting meetings, and I’m really excited about several upcoming projects, and I think that you’ll be excited to hear about it. After my last meeting, I was able to workout with my friend Kyle

As someone who is borderline obsessed with reading research and maximizing the effectiveness of exercise, I’m a bit of a bum about tracking my own workouts. I’ve never kept a written exercise, and I’ve usually relied on a curious ability to remember entire workouts from 3 months ago. However, it’s not an ideal system, and I haven’t been satisfied with my training. To combat mediocrity, I created an account on Fitocracy when I got home so I can begin to track my workouts. Here’s a link to my Fitocracy page:

If you’re on Fitocracy, come say ‘Hi!’. I’m excited to track my progress, “Level Up”, and see more progress in my training. As an example, here’s my log of Tuesday’s workout. It looks much prettier on the Fitocracy site, and here’s what I copied:

The deficit was achieved by using 35lb plates instead of 45’s. The sets of 325lbs were done with Monster Mini bands from EliteFTS; Bar weight was 255lbs on the floor, plus ~70lbs at lockout.

Front Barbell Squat:

115 lb x 5 reps (+57 pts)

135 lb x 5 reps (+66 pts)

185 lb x 5 reps (+92 pts)

185 lb x 5 reps (+92 pts)

I haven’t front squatted in a while, so these sucked. Using them in conjunction with deficit sumo deads to help boost starting strength off the floor.

Lying Dumbbell Hamstring Curl:

200 lb x 6 reps (+27 pts)

200 lb x 6 reps (+27 pts)

200 lb x 6 reps (+27 pts)

200 lb x 6 reps (+27 pts)

These were actually body weight Supine Hip Extended Leg Curls (SHELC), done with my feet on towels on a rubber floor. I used my body weight as the load. Ouchie. The Pull Throughs, Skater Squats, SHELCs, and Rows were done as a 4 exercise group to finish the workout.

Dumbbell Split Squat:

30 lb x 5 reps (+48 pts)

30 lb x 5 reps (+48 pts)

30 lb x 5 reps (+48 pts)

30 lb x 5 reps (+48 pts)

These were actually a Skater Squat with a 15lb dumbbell in each hand. The Pull Throughs, Skater Squats, SHELCs, and Rows were done as a 4 exercise group to finish the workout.

Cable Pull Through:

80 lb x 10 reps (+20 pts)

80 lb x 10 reps (+20 pts)

80 lb x 10 reps (+20 pts)

80 lb x 10 reps (+20 pts)

The Pull Throughs, Skater Squats, SHELCs, and Rows were done as a 4 exercise group to finish the workout.

Suspension Trainer Inverted Rows:

10 reps (+16 pts)

10 reps (+16 pts)

10 reps (+16 pts)

10 reps (+16 pts)

The Pull Throughs, Skater Squats, SHELCs, and Rows were done as a 4 exercise group to finish the workout.

I “discovered” the deficit deadlift a few weeks ago, and implemented them into my deload week last week, so I could practice without worrying about bar weight. Now that I’m back to my regular training schedule, I’m going to use them as a dynamic effort movement, and I asked Kyle to take a video of my last set. Here it is:

As you can tell, I was in a good mood. Caffeine, deadlifts, Avenged Sevenfold, and my anticipation for professional ass-kickery got me really excited. More on that later…

After training, I headed home for dinner, after which I signed up for Fitocracy. I also registered for StrengthCoach.com, which I probably should have done years ago. This is Mike Boyle’s website that’s chock full of information on strength and conditioning, and while I’ve learnedloads of information from The Strength Coach Podcast and The Strength Coach Blog, I’m really excited to learn in overdrive on StrengthCoach.com:

Between my upcoming professional projects, tracking my lifts, and learning from the best of the best, I’m excited for a pretty damn awesome fall. If you’re on either website, please say “Hi!”. If you’re not, I’ll be sure to pass on what I learn so you can get excited, too. I want you to get so excited that you dance with me. Look, I turned myself into a GIF for your entertainment:

Thanks Erika! I’m really trying to lock in my sumo set-up so I can get some big weights this fall; I hope it comes together. I need to learn how to Dougie in between sets, and I’ve still gotta let my hips swing.

Thanks Erika! I’m really trying to lock in my sumo set-up so I can get some big weights this fall; I hope it comes together. I need to learn how to Dougie in between sets, and I’ve still gotta let my hips swing.